Higgins was flying toward Journey's End at a rapid pace, shining brightly in the night sky. It was too late for Damian send a signal to call off the operation. The soldiers would eventually investigate and find their hiding spot in the forest. They'd have to flee into the Talico Mountain Range, and that was their last resort.

  What Damian was left with was to continue their plan and try to make contact with the Valkyrie. Looking back toward the officer dinner meeting, Damian could see Elaina. Her face was scrunching up in anger; she no longer looked like a beautiful escort, but a terrible demon ready to tear off someone's head. Even the officers at the table were backing away from her.

  Ah, I'm so dead.

  Damian could hear guards making a commotion from atop the hill. They were pointing to the sky and drawing more attention.

  'sigh'

  Damian lost his physical form and crossed the street. He noticed some of the officers inside flinch at the activation of his skill. Running to the windows, they didn't see him, but the light soaring through the sky. Instead of locking onto him, all their attention was grabbed by Higgins.

  Nothing to see here, just a gust of wind.

  Exiting his wind form, Damian made his way to the side of the inn and started to head to the back of the building. Before he could make it, he was grabbed and slammed against the inn's wall. Red hair danced in front of his face, followed by the shifting of a far too revealing dress. Elaina had intercepted him with incredible speed.

  "What are you doing?" She spoke in a low and gruff voice. It wouldn't be misplaced in the bowls of hell.

  Not able to make eye contact, Damian responded, "We were worried about you and made plans to enter the town. Higgins is posing as a Valkyrie and is going to bring one of the bodies over to the church."

  He spat out an answer as quickly as he could, and Elaina didn't seem happy with it. Her face kept changing, switching between different levels of anger, but finally settled on resignation.

  'sigh'

  "Ok, I can make do with this. Entertaining those assholes was growing tiring anyway. I wasn't sure when a good opportunity would arise to contact the Valkyrie."

  "Ah, why is she staying in the church in the first place?" Damian questioned. Elaina's note was bare bones to say the least.

  "The Valkyrie have agreed with Duco's demands to let them handle the cleanup and investigation. Since they had failed to prevent this disaster, they conceded to the demands. The one here is simply on standby in case there are any follow-up attacks. Journey's End provides a perfect line of sight to Gamo."

  So if we provide proof that the Duco government is responsible for the attack, then their agreement would be void. They can't investigate, but what Valkyrie would ignore proof of one of their taboos being broken right in front of them?

  A bright light passed over their heads. Higgins had arrived.

  The guards above started to make a commotion and rushed toward the newly arrived 'Valkyrie'. Damian was still firmly in Elaina's grasp. Only fading away into his wind form could allow him to escape her iron grasp.

  "Stay below. It'll be easier to blend in once more people arrive. I also need to change into more appropriate clothing."

  She quickly dipped back into the fancy inn, and Damian was left alone. Worried about Higgins, he moved closer to the wall that supported the top layer of the hill, doing his best to listen in on shouts coming from above.

  "Stop! What is the meaning of this! We had agreed that only one Valkyrie would be on standby! And would you turn down the light! I can barely see a damn thing!"

  This was part of their plan. Fergus was going to attach his light to Higgins at full output. It would stick to her for a while, even after she left his control range. The bright golden light helped hide the fact that her wings were blue instead of white.

  Another layer of defense they discovered was the camouflage cloth they took from the archer assassin. When you channel mana into it, it'd change color to match the surroundings. Not only did it change color, but it mimicked the surroundings. When activated next to a bright light, it would shine brightly as well.

  So all these things combined made Higgins extraordinarily hard to look at. Along with this preparation, they had instructed Higgins not to answer any questions and make her way to the church. She was told to only utter one thing.

  "Open the doors."

  Damian could barely make out the sounds of guards scrambling to make way for the 'Valkyrie'.

  "Hold it, men! I said to stop! What is the meaning of this! Did you break the agreement!?"

  "..." As instructed, Higgins didn't utter another word. It felt like she was intimidating them rather than avoiding answering the question.

  "Sir! She's holding a headless body!" One of the soldiers declared—someone with enhanced vision who could see through the light.

  Not able to hold himself back, Damian started to climb up the terrace wall to peek at what was happening. Higgins was standing before the church. Two guards stood on either side of the double doors, blocking her way in.

  The nervous man who was bouncing his knee in the inn was the one yelling at Higgins. He looked like he was about to have a breakdown. The veins in his neck were bulging as he yelled. "DID YOU STEAL THAT FROM GAMO!?"

  Then he did something that only a madman would do. Damina's mind was trying to process what he was witnessing; the action seemed to unfold in slow motion.

  The yelling officer fired a large torrent of fire at Higgins, engulfing her body. The flames were so strong that they pushed her back against the church and continued to engulf her.

  Damian's body was reacting before he even knew what he was doing. He had pulled himself up the terrace wall and was charging toward the military officer who was barbequing Higgins. Damian's hand swept down and grabbed the detonator. *Click...* *Click* *Click* No response...

  Dropping the detonator, Damianb grabbed his flame sword, pointed it at the sky, and fired a fireball to let the rest of his group know that things had fallen apart.

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  No one noticed Damian running at the gathered soldiers. They all looked on in horror as their superior officer attacked a 'Valkyrie'. The light surrounding Higgins was also dimming, revealing her true form.

  Damina could see that Higgins was using her wings to shield herself from the torrent of fire, but she had to drop the imperial soldier who was going to be shown to the Valkyrie. It was turning to ash before his eyes. This fire burned many times hotter than any Frey had ever produced. The officer had to be tier 6.

  As Damian's mind was rapidly connecting all the dots, he threw his flame sword ahead at the officer. He had charged it with fire-wind blades to use as a distraction.

  Suddenly, one of the men at the officer's side moved and intercepted the thrown blade. *Clang* The fire wind blades danced off the sword and began scattering over the soldier. Each blade cut into flesh while searing the wounds into open gashes.

  Damian was nearly upon the defending soldier and had already pulled out Storm Dancer, raising the blade high.

  The man braced himself as the wind blades tore at him. Damian's blade sliced down, but instead of an impact, he phased around the guard with his wind form. His blade continued its downward swing, aimed at the officer who was attacking Higgins.

  He was leaning forward, continuing his torrent of fire, ensuring that the imperial soldier's body was nothing but ash. This single-minded focus left his neck completely open. The black blade met flesh and received no resistance. It continued through, cutting the man's head off in one clean motion. The torrent of flames stopped, now replaced by a torrent of blood gushing from the now headless corpse.

  A head rolled on the ground, followed by the silent stillness of disbelief. The commanding officer of Journey's End had met his own end while surrounded by his loyal subordinates. *Thud* The slamming of their officer's body onto the cold, hard ground woke them from their disbelief.

  Damian never stopped to consider what he had just done. The fact that he had just assassinated a higher-ranking officer of the military. His sole focus was on Higgins.

  Standing over her, Damian assessed the damage. When being pushed back by the flames, she had actually crashed into one of the soldiers standing guard. Blue wings wrapped around both of them. Even in a disaster, her first instinct was to protect those next to her.

  Higgins's upper body was unharmed. However, the armor from the knees down was red-hot and steaming. Damian didn't know how well her Enhanced Defenses protected her, but she was unlikely to be able to run.

  Damian's mind raced. He couldn't carry Higgins away. Hell, he couldn't even grab her. One hand was missing while the other carried his sword.

  In a panic, he moved over to the church's front doors to kick them in and plead for the Valkyrie's aid.

  *Thud* They were locked.

  Shit... Damian's body turned ethereal as he sensed a boulder hurtling toward his back. As he was intangible, he tried to slip through any open gaps around the door, but he couldn't sense even the smallest crack to phase through. Not even the keyhole had a route through.

  The boulder slammed into the door and shattered on contact. The door was completely unharmed, not even a scratch. It was just like the indestructible stone of a dungeon.

  ... What?

  Damian was deeply confused. Was the Valkyrie locking herself in the church and protecting it? It wasn't even a church dedicated to the Light Goddess, but the Earth Goddess. What the hell was happening? How seriously were they taking this noninterference policy?

  Mind still panicking, he dashed to the side of the door and stood behind the other stunned door guard. He laid his blade across his neck, ready to threaten the man's life if the other soldiers continued to hurl attacks his way.

  Before he could even utter his demands—*Splat*

  Damian could feel it coming, but he didn't believe it. The same soldier who threw the boulder fired another at the guard he was hiding behind. The man took the full attack to the head and started to collapse.

  They're mad men! Damian thought to himself, completely ignoring the fact that he had killed their commanding officer. Something anyone with common sense would think was the mad one.

  "ATTACK!!!" The newly promoted officer yelled at the dumbfounded soldiers. But orders were orders, and they didn't want to end up like door guard number 2.

  A series of spells and skills came crashing down on Damian from all directions. Many more soldiers started to charge his position.

  Shit!

  Damian ran to the side of the church and toward the healing center. He dove, bobbed, and weaved around countless spells aimed at his back, but there were far too many.

  He was forced to jump in and out of his wind form repeatedly, and his mana was rapidly dwindling. In a matter of seconds, he went from nearly full to only a little more than half his reserves. His new skill, although powerful, took a lot of mana to maintain.

  As he ran, he could see that the door to the healing center was open, offering shelter and protection to all who were weary. In the doorway, an older woman in a nun's habit began peeking around the corner to see what the commotion was. She had no reason to believe that she'd be in danger, given that they were in the presence of a Valkyrie.

  Damian could see her face immediately turn to horror as she witnessed the maddened guards firing upon this holy place. Little did he know that the true source of her fear was the man in black armor charging toward her with a sword in hand.

  The older woman turned to slam the door shut as she witnessed spells headed her way. It slammed shut and miraculously held against all the spells fired upon it. Whatever magic protected the church also protected the healing center.

  "Ah, that was close..." Damian signed in relief.

  "AHHHHH!" The older woman screamed in a panic and began wacking Damian with her hands.

  "Ah! Sorry! Sorry! But can I reach the Valkyrie from here?"

  The older woman was hearing none of it and kept slapping Damian.

  As she was hitting him, Damian quickly put his sword in its sheath and started to drink mana potions rapidly, one after another. He held no reservations about saving his stock. He was already in dire circumstances.

  But in the midst of doing this, the door to the healing center was shoved open, hitting the older woman in the back.

  It wasn't locked!!!

  Damian started to backpedal inside the healing center and dove behind one of the beds.

  A large number of spells were pouring in from the doorway, but miraculously, none of the equipment was destroyed, let alone disturbed. Damian now had the perfect protection against the small army. There was no force large enough that could contend with the blessings of a Valkyrie!

  With a hop, Damian rolled across the top of another bed and took cover again. More spells shot out, but none could harm him.

  In the moment that he had moved, he had taken a peek at the older woman to make sure she was alright. He had been worried that the door could have shattered her back with how the soldiers shoved it open.

  But in that little moment of his dodge, the lady looked perfectly fine. Just confused about her rapidly changing situation.

  With this latest information, Damian was putting together another plan.

  "Miss Healer! You're invincible under the Valkyrie's protection! Stop these madmen from bringing disorder to this house of the goddess!"

  For a brief moment, the pouring of spells had stopped coming. The soldiers who had made their way in looked back at the confused lady for a moment to make sure they wouldn't get attacked from behind.

  "?" She gave them a confused look back, but then she heard a hissing sound coming from beneath her feet.

  Smoke began to fill the healing center. In the small moment of confusion, Damian threw three smokebombs around the facility—donated by the three assassins.

  Flashes of light, followed by shrapnel, erupted at the feet of the soldiers as Damian tossed bombs around. The soldiers were blown into the walls, taking the full force of the explosion.

  The older woman, meanwhile, was completely unfazed. There was a part of Damian that was terrified that he'd be wrong about his conclusion, but it proved correct!

  "Yeah! Show them the power of the Earth Goddess, Miss Healer!" Damian continued to sow confusion among guards pouring into the healing center. While he was down an arm, he began to utilise the other tools available to him. His tongue became a weapon of its own.

  Damian's crazed taunts and misinformation finally landed where he wanted them to. One foolish guard actually swung his weapon at the poor healing staffer, only for it to bounce off. With that one action, the guard next to him began to panic and stabbed at the invincible figure hidden in the smoke.

  *Clang* Again, Miss Healer fended off more soldiers just by existing. With several soldiers attacking the poor, invincible woman, others joined in. It was chaos, and Damian was thriving.

  Smoke continued to pour from the smoke bombs, creating more and more confusion. Who knew that such a simple, mundane tool could be so effective? Even though runes worked as the trigger, they only activated a fire in the core to burn its contents. Mundane items had a certain power of their own.

  Using his wind sensitivity, Damian skulked through the building, leaving the panicking guards behind.